Ria Percival – Tottenham Hotspur (English Super League)

All anyone was talking about as Tottenham kicked off away at Bristol City this weekend was the starting debut of American superstar Alex Morgan... completely taking for granted the presence of New Zealand's most capped ever footballer in Ria Percival but okay, we’ll live with it. As it happened, Morgz’s first start was far more relevant off the pitch than on it because she did basically nothing in her 45 minutes before being replaced at half-time. First game since giving birth earlier in the year, with a few injuries to work through since... she was rusty and it showed. Baby steps for her. So to speak.

Winless in the league but against a fellow winless Bristol City side, the rest of the Spurs team also looked pretty rusty and without half the excuses. They struggled to impose themselves against a team happy to sit back (usually Tottenham are on the other side of that equation) and then just as they were starting to find a level of comfort a cheeky Ebony Salmon backheel towards Yana Daniels led to a penalty kick which Australian Chloe Logarzo converted and BCFC had a 37th minute lead. However Siri Worm, who had conceded the spottie, made swift amends when she took a free kick from down near the right corner flag and lifted and curled it over everyone and into the far top corner. Get the feeling she meant to do that too.

It was another Worm free kick that had Spurs in the lead after 65 minutes. This time it really was a cross and Ashleigh Neville headed it in from six yards out, no less than Spurs deserved. To be honest they should have scored more. They didn’t though and right at the end they came to regret that.

Rianna Dean was sent off (a bit harshly) for following through on the keeper in a challenge with a tad over ten minutes remaining, trying to get on the end of a loose ball after Ria Percival had sparked a counter attack by pressing up on halfway and winning the ball then putting in a brilliant early cross (her flick of the switch from solid defensive positioning to all-out attack mode is always amazing). Despite the woman-disadvantage, Spurs still seemed to have the game under control... until they got popped in injury time when a big ball over the top was misjudged by the defence and Salmon pounced to earn a 2-2 draw. Not a terrible point for Spurs... but a game they should really have won.

Up Next: Away to Arsenal in the Conti Cup on Thursday at 8.30am (NZT)

Vic Esson – Avaldsnes IL (Norwegian Toppserien)

You’ve been reading Flying Kiwis every week. You already know that there was a humdinger of a title race coming all the way down to the final round in Norway. One point separating the top three teams. For Avaldsnes, it was gonna take some forces outside their control for both the two teams ahead of them to also drop points but forces outside their control were exactly what decided things... unfortunately those forces were coronavirus and as a number of players from one of the other top flight clubs went into quarantine awaiting test results, the decision was made to postpone all but one game of the final round for another week.

But they did still get a game of cup football in. Avaldsnes topped Arna-Bjørnar (midweek before their covid scare) 1-0 in the quarter-final. Elise Thorsnes scored the only goal on the rebound in the 13th minute after an eventful opening to the match. And while both sides continued to pepper the goals, that early strike would be all that separated them. Three or four really essential saves in there from Vic Esson to preserve yet another clean sheet.

Naturally they’ll be playing CJ Bott’s Vålerenga in the semis. At least that means one kiwi guaranteed in the final.

Up Next: Avaldsnes vs Vålerenga at midnight on Sunday in the Norwegian Cup Semi-Final (NZT)

CJ Bott - Vålerenga (Norwegian Toppserien)

Meanwhile the team in the box seat for that Norwegian title is also still in the cup race (and the Champions League) and for their quarter-final against Stabæk they kept things very exciting. And also relevant: with CJ Bott starting at right back. She’s had to bide her time for games this season having missed a large chunk of it through injury but thanks to a big congestion of fixtures with the club competing in three competitions at once right now there’ve been a few more of those matches forthcoming.

Ajara Njoya gave VIF the lead in the fifth minute as she broke the offside trap in close but the game was level once more in the 35th minute when Ingibjörg Sigurdardottir was credited with an own goal after she accidentally deflected a shot into the bottom corner from range, wrong footing her keeper. The move had come about after a poor clearance from Bott which ain’t ideal. Luckily that parity only lasted six more minutes before Sigrid Heien Hansen scored a blinder from distance. Absolute top bins for the lead. And as the game settled down into the night they held on to advance to the semis.

All of which keeps Vålerenga smack bang in the middle of what’s been called the most important run of fixtures in the team’s history. Some of the game times need to be rearranged by the looks of it, but there’s a league game against Arna-Bjørnar that will be played at some point where a win will almost certainly book them the championship. Then there’s also that cup semi-final against Avaldsnes and a potential cup final to follow. And later this week they’re meant to be playing away to Gintra-Universitetas (Lithuania) on Friday in Champions League qualifying with a place in the competition proper on the line. Enormously consequential stuff, that. VIF were runners-up in both the league and cup last year and also lost a cup final in 2017... but they’ve never won either trophy before nor have they ever qualified for the Champions League.

Up Next: Away to Gintra-Universitetas in UCL Quals, Friday at midnight (NZT)

Winston Reid - Sporting Kansas City (American Major League Soccer)

Sporting KC: “After anchoring a strong backline display in Sunday's 2-0 shutout win over Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City center back Winston Reid was named today to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week presented by Audi. Making his eighth start of the season, Reid went the full 90 minutes and played an integral role in silencing Real Salt Lake on a snowy and historic evening at Rio Tinto Stadium. The 2-0 result gave Sporting the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs and marked the first time Kansas City has emerged with a league win at RSL since July 2013. Reid finished the game with five aerial duels won, four headed clearances and two interceptions, leading Sporting to their third consecutive shutout to end the 2020 regular season campaign. Sporting are 5-1-2 in Reid's eight starts this season and will now have homefield advantage in the West during the highly anticipated postseason.”

Muy bueno. Reid should have a crack at repeating the dose when the MLS playoffs swing around this upcoming week. He’s one of a number of the fellas involved there. Bill Tuiloma will probably be on the bench for Portland. Though the most fascinating one to watch will be Minnesota’s game because four players of theirs have been away on international duty and therefore will still be quarantining when this first round game takes place. Michael Boxall has been rested from the last two games to ensure he’s good to go but with those other absentees there’s a slight chance James Musa could get a go (he’ll at least be on the bench) while Noah Billingsley, having only just made his debut, is an even bigger chance as regular right back Romain Metanire is one of the missing internationals. By the way, this is why MLS players were gonna be unavailable for the All Whites had they played this window. In another world Winnie would be flying back from a game against England at Wembley Stadium right now.

RELEVANT MLS CONFERENCE QUARTER-FINALS:

• Sporting Kansas City vs San Jose Earthquakes, 10am on Sunday

• Minnesota United vs Colorado Rapids, 1.30pm on Sunday

• Portland Timbers vs FC Dallas, 4pm on Sunday.

Up Next: See above, mate

Elliot Collier – Chicago Fire (American Major League Soccer)

Chicago Fire: “The Fire exercised the 2021 contract options on the following four players: forward Elliot Collier, midfielder Djordje Mihailović, defender Wyatt Omsberg and defender Nicholas Slonina.”

The Fire didn’t make the playoffs, missing out in agonising fashion, but at least that means Collier’s future is sorted a little quicker. Collier will be back in the MLS next year as the club have picked up his contract option. Plenty more mazy runs and lanky sprints where that came from.

Also, this is probably as good a place as any to mention that the NWSL Expansion Draft came and went last week and Rosie White, the only unprotected kiwi, went untouched so she’ll remain with OL Reign. Tobin Heath and Christen Press were the two major gets for Racing Louisville, both currently on loan at Manchester United.

Up Next: 2021

Hannah Wilkinson – Djurgården IF (Swedish Damallsvenskan)

Unlike in Norway, the Swedish women’s league’s final round of fixtures all happened on time and for Hannah Wilkinson and Djurgården that meant a game against Uppsala with the small matter of avoiding relegation on the line. Uppsala had already gone down while some timely results had DIF just hanging on the right side of things but needing a result here to make sure of it.

Perfect time for a Hannah Wilkinson hat-trick... except she was named on the bench. Nonetheless they still struck early as Rachel Bloznalis headed in after only three and a half minutes for the ideal start. DIF didn’t let up from there, continuing to pester the Uppsala goal, however that second goal was turning out to be a slippery one. Good saves, bad finishing, good defending, bad luck. Chuck ‘em all in a pot and mix them together. On came Wilkie in the 72nd minute to try and sort things out... though it was Linda Motlhalo who finally made one count. Her shot from range was parried by the keeper on the dive but not hard enough to keep it from sneaking in. 78th minute and finally DIF had some breathing room. Wilkie almost added a third in the 85th minute as she drifted in behind the defence from the left but couldn’t squeeze a shot past the keeper on the angle. No worries. A 2-0 win was exactly what the doctor ordered... avoiding relegation by a single point. Highlights for your perusal right here.

Overall it’s probably a disappointing season for Wilkie. She played 17 times in the league but only four of those appearances were starts and all up she only tallied 503 minutes. Just one ninety minute league game. And worst of all... zero goals. She did score in the cup competition plus there was a league assist in there so it wasn’t a complete blanker. And it’s tough to score when you’re mostly only playing in small cameos. But also she did become more prominent as the season went on and DIF were in the deepest depths of their relegation scrap so there’s a little momentum there to build on next time.

Up Next: The big ol’ offseason

Ali Riley – FC Rosengård (Swedish Damallsvenskan)

Whereas this lot... they hosted Växjö in the final game of their league season with the title beyond them but second place was still there to make sure of, a significant deal given there’s a Champions League spot on the line there. FCR still have this season’s UCL to play in a few weeks’ time though dunno if Ali Riley will still be there with parent club Orlando Pride obviously calling the shots there. It’s possible this might have been her last match with her old club and so it was fitting that she got the start and a solid sixty minutes on the right side of defence before being replaced... presumably to enormous cheers from the home crowd even if that home crowd was only a tiny one thanks to, you know, everything that’s going on.

Unfortunately it was another dud performance from FCR. They failed to make the most of some very good chances while giving away a soft penalty late in the first half which Signe Hold Andersson scored and they went on to lose 1-0 (click here for highlights). A result that could have been pretty damning... were it not for the fact that Kristianstad also lost 2-1 so Rosengård finished second anyway. Which is nice. Full league stats for Ali Riley: 17 matches (8 starts), 776 minutes, 1 goal and 2 assists.

Up Next: FCR’s Champions League draw will be known next week, with the round of 32 to take place on 9-10 and 16-17 December (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Colchester United (English League Two)

The U’s bounced back nicely from that embarrassing FA Cup first round exit last week with a 6-1 win over Southend in the EFL Trophy. That was with a rotated squad though, Smithy resting for the midweeker as he’s done a few times. The one that really mattered was the league game on the weekend and the main man was back for that one and doing what he does every week. What’s more is that Jevani Brown fella keeps on scoring. He bagged one in each half on the way to a 2-1 victory. Connor Wilkinson did get a late one for Leyton Orient to spoil Smithy’s clean sheet but that’s now four wins from their last five League Two games for Colchester and almost a quarter of the way through the season they’re in a lovely position to launch from in seventh place, six points off top, with a game in hand on all but one of the teams ahead of them.

Up Next: Away to Mansfield Town on Saturday at 8am (NZT)

Jana Radosavljević - Werder Bremen (German Bundesliga)

Rado was the first sub off the bench for Werder in their match against MSV Duisburg which sadly meant she’d missed all the fun already. The first twenty minutes of this match, a game with big consequences as all the ones between teams in the bottom half tend to be, it had been back and forth like mad as Duisburg twice cancelled out Werder goals but they couldn’t do so a third time... Werder Bremen up 3-2 after 22 minutes. It then took until the 59th minute for a fourth to go in and it was then, with a little breathing room, that Radosavljević was brought on for the final half hour. Werder scored once more (and then conceded late) for a 5-3 victory although Rado didn’t have anything to do with the goal. Highlights are in the linked tweet up there... always love an indirect free kick in the box, aye? This was Werder’s third win in four games which takes them well clear of the drop zone after a poor start to things.

Up Next: Monday at 2am away to Potsdam (NZT)

Michael Woud – Almere City (Dutch Eerste Divisie)

Things got wild this week for Woudy. He’d kept six clean sheets in his first 11 games for the club, proving a steady pair of hands between the posts as they strolled up the first division ladder. Not only did he have the clean sheets but in those other games he was only conceding one or maybe two as well. With nine goals conceded through eleven games no keeper had been beaten less in that division. The one exception was a completely crazy game in which Almere beat Excelsior 6-4 in the second game of the season but that has proved very much to be an anomaly given their defensive solidity since.

So it’s safe to say that it was unexpected when Woud conceded seven goals against Cambuur this week. The first went in within three minutes of kickoff, nothing Woud could do about the cut back and strike. Almere then equalised in the ninth thanks to a cross/shot that lobbed the keeper from miles out but in the 24th min Woud came out for a corner that an attacker got to first and powered past him for 2-1. Four minutes later another corner was flicked on and then smashed low from the penalty spot and Woud wasn’t able to keep it out, slamming his fist into the dirt afterwards in anger. Should’ve stopped it maybe... but it was hit pretty hard too. It was then 4-1 after 31 minutes as the AC defence stood off and allowed a bloke to pick out the bottom corner from range.

After the break, 48th minute of the game, it was five. Turnover in midfield and Woud got his hand to the rocket of a shot that came his way but could only push it into the roof of the net. Slightly late on it though that woulda been an amazing stop to be fair. The sixth came in the 51st minute from a tap in after a messy corner routine, nothing to be done about that. Then a minute later it was seven with that goal scored from inside the six yard box after some pinball. Almere were lucky not to go down to ten men a little while later but the ref looked at the scoreboard and showed some mercy with a mere yellow. They then got a consolation goal from a stoppage time corner kick to lose 7-2. No idea what happened there but they’re still second on the table – you wouldn’t guess it from the scoreline but this was actually Almere’s first defeat of the season.

Michael Woud: “It was not good today. We have defended well all season so far but that didn’t happen today. It was not a good day for us. We started the game badly and then never got back into it. This was not the team that has played so well all season. Those goals should never be in. That should not happen. We have to work on that. Three goals from a corner cannot be allowed at this level. After the 7-1 we did everything we could to not let it get worse.”

From a happier point of view, he did a bit of media work earlier in the week which is pretty interesting for how he talks about his development and all that... as well as the perspective on his current loan move...

MW: “One step back with the intention of taking two forward later? Hmm… I don't really think that my adventure at Almere is a step back. Here I get the chance to play every week and that is what I really need at my age. Of course I had hope that I would continue [as the number one at Willem II after Timon Wellenreuther left], but the club did not dare to do that. I have to respect that, because disappointments are also part of football.”

Up Next: Sunday at 4.30am against Go Ahead Eagles (NZT)

Greg Draper – The New Saints (Welsh Premier League)

That’s what he does.

Up Next: Cardiff Met vs TNS, Sunday at 3.30am (NZT)

Meikayla Moore – Liverpool (English Championship)

This really was a frustrating weekend for the ladies in England. Ria Percival is a given, she’s always there for Spurs battling away in the midfield. But the rest of them tend to be in-or-out selections (some more than others) and this was one of those weeks with a lot of outs... very annoying given the men were on an international break in Europe and the Women’s Super League had branded this as Women’s Football Week for a big old spotlight.

So while Brighton rode a second half Rianna Jarrett goal to victory away to West Ham... Rebekah Stott was an unused sub.

And while Reading battled away to a 1-1 draw away against Everton... Erin Nayler was an unused sub.

Even down in the Championship it was the same as Sheffield United were topped 1-0 at home by Durham... with Olivia Chance an unused sub.

And Katie Rood who usually features pretty regularly for Lewes, they lost 1-0 to London Bees... and Roodie was an unused sub.

All of which means we can be enormously grateful for Meikayla Moore who was brought on at half-time for Liverpool in their match against Blackburn Rovers. Both teams were coming off three straight league wins though it was Liverpool who’d have the better of this one. Just with the minor issue that they forgot to score any goals. Alexandra Brooks was in top form for Rovers with the gloves and the Reds, who also hit the post once and missed the target plenty more than once, didn’t quite have it in attack. Still, more decent minutes for the one they call Mouse... in this case those minutes coming as a defensive midfielder, a role she played a lot in her last months in Germany. But yeah, a 0-0 draw against Blackburn.

Up Next: Away to Everton on Thursday at 8am in the Conti Cup group stages (NZT)

Joel Stevens & Francis De Vries – IFK Värnamo (Swedish Ettan Södra)

Yet again the Varnies failed to win. That’s five games in a row now where that’s been the case as this club reach towards Titanic levels of sinking ship at the sharp end of the season. Absolutely cruising towards promotion and now they suddenly don’t seem to have a clue. But this latest game was a relief in two ways: one is that they didn’t lose, they drew. The other is that they were facing their closest competition for top spot in Landskrona so in avoiding defeat they also avoid losing any ground in the title race and with two games to go they’re still three points clear with a superior goal difference.

Francis de Vries played the full match, Joel Stevens was subbed on in the 69th minute as the first man called upon off the bench. And as you can see here in the highlights, Stevens came closer than anyone else to supplying a winning touch as he turned his man late on and whacked one past the keeper but off the post. Pleasing at least to see IKFV were the more assertive team here but also their frustrations were clear by some of the reactions to their missed chances... Landskrona did hit the post themselves at one point so it wasn’t all bad luck. Four points from their last two games will see them promoted. At the very least they’ll still get a playoff.

Up Next: Lindome vs Värnamo, 1am on Sunday (NZT)

Claudia Bunge – Melbourne Victory / Paige Satchell - Canberra United (Australian W-League)

Well, the FFA absolutely robbed us of a SheNix presence in the W-League but there will still be at least two New Zealanders taking part in the competition this season. Surely a couple more where that came from, right?

Up Next: Season begins on December 27

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